Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and her mother, Doria Ragland were involved in a “near catastrophic” car chase in New York City on Tuesday night “at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,” according to their spokesperson.
Paparazzi were said to have been chasing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex following their appearance at the Ms. Foundation for Women’s Annual Gala earlier that night.
According to two senior law enforcement sources, at around 10 p.m. Harry and Meghan had private security with them as they were leaving the Ziegfeld Theater and trying to get back to where they were staying on the Upper East Side.
Sources say that a crowd of paparazzi were at the theater and wanted to follow them since the press did not know where they were staying.
One NYPD marked vehicle ended up escorting their vehicle, sources say.
The couple was taken to the 19th Precinct and stayed there around 15 minutes before police helped them get off the block and get into a different car so they could get to their destination without being followed.
In a statement to NBC News, the couple’s spokesperson said the “relentless pursuit” lasted for over two hours and resulted in “multiple near collisions” with other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD police officers. Three additional senior law enforcement officials say that although it was not a chase, but they were being followed.
While the couple described the whole chain of events as “near catastrophic,” officials describe it as a bit of a chaotic scene, although they continue to put together an official timeline of what exactly transpired Tuesday night.
During an unrelated press conference Wednesday morning, NYC Mayor Eric Adams addressed the incident.
“It’s clear that the paparazzi they want to get the right shot, they want to get the right story, but public safety must always be at the forefront,” he said, adding that in the briefing he received “two of our officers could have been injured.”
“New York City is different from a small town somewhere,” the mayor went on to say. “You shouldn’t be speeding anywhere, but this is a densely populated city and all of us — I don’t think there are many of us who don’t recall how his mom died and it would be horrific to lose innocent bystanders during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well.”
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